Broom-holder.



v L. J. POWERS.

BROOM HOLDER. APPLICATION F ILED APR. 27,1908.

Patented Mar. 23, 1909.

//VVE/V7'0R LJ. Powers.

I ATTORNE).

THE A 'oRRls PETERS can, WASHINGTON, u. c.

LEONARD J. POWERS, OF WATERLOO, IOWA.

BROOM-HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 23, 1909.

Application filed April 27, 1908. Serial No. 429,354.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEONARD J. Pownns, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Waterloo, Blackhawk county, Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Broom-Hold-' ers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements for holding or supporting brooms and other objects, and the object of my improvement is to furnish means for this purpose which cooperate with the object held by reason of the gravity of the latter to support such object securely, such means furthermore being so arranged and adapted as to permit of the ready withdrawal of such object when the latter is elevated, without the necessity for manually operating or grasping the former otherwise. This object I have accomplished by the means which are hereinafter fully described and claimed, and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a side elevation of my broomholder, with its clutches depicted in full lines in the grasping position, and in dotted lines in the released position. Fig. 2 is another side elevation of such device, showing its clutches supporting a broom handle. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of such device. Fig. 4 is a perspective of the base-plate and its bearings. Fig. 5 is a perspective of the upper clutch, and Fig. 6 is a perspective of the lower clutch in detail.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

I am aware that devices have been here.- tofore contrived to hold brooms and similar articles in suspension but such devices have been so constructed that it has not been possible to release or to place the object held by the use of one hand only, when the other hand of the operator is required for other purposes. In these devices, one hand has been required to hold the object while the other hand was necessary to disengage the clutches of the holder. In my improved device, but one hand is used or necessary, and neither hand of the operator is required to manipulate or touch the holder.

My device has a backing or base-plate a formed of a single flat piece of metal with a central H-shaped cut. The lipped portions thus formed are pressed out at right angles on one side to form parallel brackets or bearthe latter extending horizontally across the rectangular space between the said brackets. The plate a has orifices 7c, whereby it may be suspended from nails secured to any vertical surface.

The upper clutch is formed of a single piece of metal, having one end scrolled to inclose the upper bearing-pin f, as shown at 0 in Fig. 5. This clutch c has a narrow rectangular longitudinal slot 41, and the outer end of the clutch is bent downward, with its extreme end then bent inward to form a contact-edge e.

The lower clutch d has its inner end scrolled at p to pivot on the lowermost bearing-pin 9, while the outer portion of such clutch is bent u ward. The extreme outer end of the c utch (Z is cut away to resent a T-shaped terminal, the horizontal ugs of such terminal being passed throughthe slot '1', in the clutch 0, before pivoting said lower clutch on the pin 9, so that the lugs will, when the lower clutch is assembled with the pin g, be prevented from returning through such slot, although the narrower neck of such terminal may freely play within and along the slot. The shoulders 12. of the terminal h also restrict the clutch d from passing upward through said slot. As shown in Fig. 1, the angle of bend of the clutch d is made rather acute in order to provide an opposing contact-edge at such angle for the contact-edge e of the upper clutch c.

When assembled, the tendency of the clutches is to fall under the influence of gravity to the position indicated by the full lines in Fig.7 1. When the upper end of the handle of a broom m or other object is introduced or pushed u ward between the contact-edges aforesai of said clutches c and d, as shown in Fig. 2, and then released, the weight of the object m draws down said clutches so that their contact-edges firmly grasp the object and hold it securely suspended. It will now be obvious that in case the operator wishes to detach such object m, the only action necessary will be to slightly elevate the object with one hand and then withdraw it from between said clutches sidewise, when it becomes detached entirely therefrom without any other manipulation or any necessity for touching the clutches .c and d.

Having described my invention, what I 55 ing-plates b and Z transversely orificed in line claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters for the reception of the bearing pins f and 9, Patent, is:

and its terminal then oent downward and then inward, the free end of the lower member being bent upward acutely toward the said upper member with its terminal adapted 10 to slide in and be restricted within said slot,

the acute angle of the lower and the inwardly bent end of the upper member forming clamping-jaws which are separable when moved upward to permit the release sidewlse from 15 between them of a contained object.

2. A broom-holder, consisting of a baseplate a, supplied with bearing-brackets I), bearing pinsf and g in said brackets, a clutch c pivoted on the bearing-pinf, and supplied with a slot 'i, a clutch d pivoted on the boar- 20 ing-pin g and having a lUI-lJQfLTiUfI terminal h adapted to be slidable in the slot i, and prevented from escaping by its lugs.

Signed at VJaterloo, lowa, this 9th day of April, 1908.

LEONAR l) J. POWE R S.

Ytitnesses O. D. YOUNG,

3 G. G. KENNEDY. 

